FEMA's Maddening Neglect..?
Two of the most vexing of governance issues is that people cannot effect change from here and that officials do not live with our realities. Marty Bahamonde’s testimony before a House Panel on Katrina this week tells of personal experience in New Orleans during Katrina’s passage.
It’s a useful study of how officials react when they come to live in our realities.
Marty Bahamonde is the only FEMA employee so far to ride out the Katrina strike on Louisiana. And he seems to be very angry about it.
Welcome to the club.
Bahamonde gave testimony this week of his powerlessness, his being alone, his struggle to find enough food and water, his being trapped in the Superdome, how he’d just had to consume an MRE [Meals Ready to Eat] and his having to crap in the hallway of the Superdome along with 30,000 other close friends [referring to the conditions there] in his written response to learning that then Director Brown was facing his own difficulties in waiting in a busy restaurant – all because, in his words, officials were ill-prepared to deal with the crisis.
I understand.
We all do.
But it only exemplifies how little you spoiled brats in Washington have failed to understand.
Chairwoman Susan Collins (R- Maine) went on to describe the sum of Bahamonde’s testimony as "a complete disconnect between senior [FEMA] officials and the reality of the situation."
No Kidding.
Collins did mention that New Orleans officials could have acted more quickly and evacuated people sooner.
Yes. We’ve said that.
Senator Collins requested Bahamonde to read aloud one of his e-mails, which read in part, "I can’t get out of my head the visions of children and babies I saw sitting [in the Superdome] helpless, looking at me and hoping I could make a difference."
I wonder. Did they know you were a FEMA official? Weren't the children just looking around, themselves in shock?
I believe in compassion for others, but is this the reaction of a Professional?
Following his bowel movement, could this Professional have joined the relief efforts? Or was he taking a break? Could he have hefted boxes, driven a truck or given first-aid? Or was he a victim? Victims are themselves sometimes in shock, excused for their inability to function. There is no guilt in that, but Bahamonde expresses feelings of guilt and powerlessness.
All professionals experience this sense of powerlessness for a time, facing the enormity of such a situation. Some of us go into shock and sluggishness like the victims, it’s true, but guilt doesn’t fit the professional for what they are humanly unable to do. That’s about as far as I’m willing to go with professionals.
Because, after it’s all over, there is the report one has to hand in, and it’s content tells a lot about the official as much as circumstances. Bahamonde’s report is filled with rage at his own agency.
Bahamonde tells of being among them, officially ignored for days – a maddening neglect – caught up in the masses and having to live as they live for the duration. His anger comes through, certainly.
But is it properly placed?
We’ve seen this before. Cindy Sheehan, who lost her son in Iraq, spoke of her heartbreak and anger; who wouldn’t be angry and heartbroken? But her anger against the President was entirely misplaced. So is Bahamonde’s sense of being abandoned.
Bahamonde may sound intelligent, but he acts surprised, and his surprise and anger are clearly misdirected.
Because it is not FEMA’s job to be a First Responder. FEMA is a third responder. FEMA is support – not, as we say in EMS, first in. FEMA is not the first-in jurisdictional authority.
This transference of anger is getting to be common.
We saw this before in the 9/11 criticism of the President. We see it in the displaced anger of Cindy Sheehan, who gets mad at Bush and not the terrorists her son was fighting.
Now we see it in the displaced anger of Bahamonde directed toward the people he thought were his brothers, but where it was not his brothers’ job to be first in.
He should know that. As a Professional, he should know his agency’s role/responsibilities and as a pro he should know how to cope with being in the middle of a disaster. I understand his shock during the event, but not his anger at his agency.
What did he expect? Privilege?
The solution is, of course, community involvement. FEMA does not have to be entirely reorganized as much as local control needs to be affirmed. This is where you come in.
It’s not FEMA’s job to respond as described in angry testimony. Nor should it be. It is the job of local county and state assets to engage the situation immediately. They are nearest, it is their authority and they are closest to know the needs of their constituents as they update them over time.
Be certain to check out your local preparedness protocols and get involved in planning in asserting local control over every type of incident. Civilian input is critical not only to what is done, but what is not to be done. Local control must have superior authority over the incident and must be given the authority over Federal assets summoned.
If preparedness in New Orleans is found to be just that beforehand but neglected – and it’s a fair bet that it will be – then I hope they come down hard on the locals who dropped the ball. Another case of misdirected anger. Local authority and preparedness won’t ever be taken seriously as a responsibility anywhere if heads don’t roll there.
Meanwhile, Mr. Bahamonde – welcome to the club. Your bond with FEMA is no guarantee of membership privileges when you are under the jurisdiction of local authority – or lack of it. Understand that our complaint is that you and your officials have been out of touch with our realities for decades.
Until now, that is. Go ahead – continue to express your anger: it tells the story of your surprise at living with, for a short time, what the rest of us have to live with permanently: officials who don’t listen.
You see, when this sort of experience comes as a surprise to officials as it does to both then Director Brown and now Bahamonde, and then when one expresses outrage at living the experience for a few days, this alone should pave the way for change -- specifically, inclusion of the citizen in the planning process.
Obviously something is left out.
The part that baffles the officials is that all of the people - tens of thousands - were suffering the very same experience so surprising to Bahamonde and Brown.
Our job – everyone’s job – is to sort through disaster preparedness protocols with critical thinking to stay on topic and to participate in the development of policies we will have to abide by when the time comes so that we don’t have to endure Mr. Bahamonde’s description of maddening neglect.
Or worse.
______________________________________
John Longenecker is author of The Battle We Fight - available at online booksellers. His website is www.NationwideConcealedCarry.com and he welcomes all correspondence.
It’s a useful study of how officials react when they come to live in our realities.
Marty Bahamonde is the only FEMA employee so far to ride out the Katrina strike on Louisiana. And he seems to be very angry about it.
Welcome to the club.
Bahamonde gave testimony this week of his powerlessness, his being alone, his struggle to find enough food and water, his being trapped in the Superdome, how he’d just had to consume an MRE [Meals Ready to Eat] and his having to crap in the hallway of the Superdome along with 30,000 other close friends [referring to the conditions there] in his written response to learning that then Director Brown was facing his own difficulties in waiting in a busy restaurant – all because, in his words, officials were ill-prepared to deal with the crisis.
I understand.
We all do.
But it only exemplifies how little you spoiled brats in Washington have failed to understand.
Chairwoman Susan Collins (R- Maine) went on to describe the sum of Bahamonde’s testimony as "a complete disconnect between senior [FEMA] officials and the reality of the situation."
No Kidding.
Collins did mention that New Orleans officials could have acted more quickly and evacuated people sooner.
Yes. We’ve said that.
Senator Collins requested Bahamonde to read aloud one of his e-mails, which read in part, "I can’t get out of my head the visions of children and babies I saw sitting [in the Superdome] helpless, looking at me and hoping I could make a difference."
I wonder. Did they know you were a FEMA official? Weren't the children just looking around, themselves in shock?
I believe in compassion for others, but is this the reaction of a Professional?
Following his bowel movement, could this Professional have joined the relief efforts? Or was he taking a break? Could he have hefted boxes, driven a truck or given first-aid? Or was he a victim? Victims are themselves sometimes in shock, excused for their inability to function. There is no guilt in that, but Bahamonde expresses feelings of guilt and powerlessness.
All professionals experience this sense of powerlessness for a time, facing the enormity of such a situation. Some of us go into shock and sluggishness like the victims, it’s true, but guilt doesn’t fit the professional for what they are humanly unable to do. That’s about as far as I’m willing to go with professionals.
Because, after it’s all over, there is the report one has to hand in, and it’s content tells a lot about the official as much as circumstances. Bahamonde’s report is filled with rage at his own agency.
Bahamonde tells of being among them, officially ignored for days – a maddening neglect – caught up in the masses and having to live as they live for the duration. His anger comes through, certainly.
But is it properly placed?
We’ve seen this before. Cindy Sheehan, who lost her son in Iraq, spoke of her heartbreak and anger; who wouldn’t be angry and heartbroken? But her anger against the President was entirely misplaced. So is Bahamonde’s sense of being abandoned.
Bahamonde may sound intelligent, but he acts surprised, and his surprise and anger are clearly misdirected.
Because it is not FEMA’s job to be a First Responder. FEMA is a third responder. FEMA is support – not, as we say in EMS, first in. FEMA is not the first-in jurisdictional authority.
This transference of anger is getting to be common.
We saw this before in the 9/11 criticism of the President. We see it in the displaced anger of Cindy Sheehan, who gets mad at Bush and not the terrorists her son was fighting.
Now we see it in the displaced anger of Bahamonde directed toward the people he thought were his brothers, but where it was not his brothers’ job to be first in.
He should know that. As a Professional, he should know his agency’s role/responsibilities and as a pro he should know how to cope with being in the middle of a disaster. I understand his shock during the event, but not his anger at his agency.
What did he expect? Privilege?
The solution is, of course, community involvement. FEMA does not have to be entirely reorganized as much as local control needs to be affirmed. This is where you come in.
It’s not FEMA’s job to respond as described in angry testimony. Nor should it be. It is the job of local county and state assets to engage the situation immediately. They are nearest, it is their authority and they are closest to know the needs of their constituents as they update them over time.
Be certain to check out your local preparedness protocols and get involved in planning in asserting local control over every type of incident. Civilian input is critical not only to what is done, but what is not to be done. Local control must have superior authority over the incident and must be given the authority over Federal assets summoned.
If preparedness in New Orleans is found to be just that beforehand but neglected – and it’s a fair bet that it will be – then I hope they come down hard on the locals who dropped the ball. Another case of misdirected anger. Local authority and preparedness won’t ever be taken seriously as a responsibility anywhere if heads don’t roll there.
Meanwhile, Mr. Bahamonde – welcome to the club. Your bond with FEMA is no guarantee of membership privileges when you are under the jurisdiction of local authority – or lack of it. Understand that our complaint is that you and your officials have been out of touch with our realities for decades.
Until now, that is. Go ahead – continue to express your anger: it tells the story of your surprise at living with, for a short time, what the rest of us have to live with permanently: officials who don’t listen.
You see, when this sort of experience comes as a surprise to officials as it does to both then Director Brown and now Bahamonde, and then when one expresses outrage at living the experience for a few days, this alone should pave the way for change -- specifically, inclusion of the citizen in the planning process.
Obviously something is left out.
The part that baffles the officials is that all of the people - tens of thousands - were suffering the very same experience so surprising to Bahamonde and Brown.
Our job – everyone’s job – is to sort through disaster preparedness protocols with critical thinking to stay on topic and to participate in the development of policies we will have to abide by when the time comes so that we don’t have to endure Mr. Bahamonde’s description of maddening neglect.
Or worse.
______________________________________
John Longenecker is author of The Battle We Fight - available at online booksellers. His website is www.NationwideConcealedCarry.com and he welcomes all correspondence.
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